Really Far Out Emerging Tech at the Future Salon

Far out as in going life in 11 years and 306 days from today. Really far out as in

100,000 km (62,000 mile)

out into space. I remember late night conversations after Future Salons where some of the more-out-there Saloners would marvel over Dyson Spheres and Space Elevators. Accelerating Change and all (or is it just some Internet riches) makes it viable to built one now, or well within the next 11 years. The Dyson Sphere will take a bit longer, but the

LiftPort Group is a funded company that is working on nothing else but building a Space Elevator. (It may be only a front to sell books about it and get on the future conference circus or was that circuit :-)

Personally I think there are some problems down here on earth that we should tackle first. O.K. there is the famous meteor that may wipe us out any minute. To spread ourselves a bit in our solar system would do us good in that regards. Although shouldn't our focus be on creating an early warning system and destroying the meteor, changing its course, or even better harvest the iron or whatever it is made of for use on earth? Well, to do that efficiently we could really use the help of a Space Elevator. Makes sense to me.